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Abraham Lincoln 
'Gave the last full measure of Devotion.' 



Standard Selections 

for 

Declamation 



FRANCIS B. HAAS 

II 

BENSON SCHOOL, PHILADELPHIA 




PHILADELPHIA 

FRANKLIN PUBLISHING AND SUPPLY COMPANY 
1919 



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Copyright, 1919, by 
Franklin Publishing and Supply Company 



OUT 20 1919 



©CI.A536269 



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"The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." 

—2 Cor. 3: 6. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Principles of Declamation 11 

Return of Regulus — Elijah Kellogg 23 

Address at Gettysburg — Abraham Lincoln 26 

Birthday of Washington — Rufus Choate . 29 

Liberty and Union — Daniel Webster 33 

Veterans of Bunker Hill — Daniel Webster 37 

Spartacus to the Gladiators — Elijah 
Kellogg 41 

Mark Antony's Speech Over Cesar — 
William Shakespeare 46 

Rienzi's Address to the Romans — Mary 
Russell Mitford 52 

Men to Make a State — Geo. Washington 
Doane 56 

One Hundred Years a Nation — Grover 
Cleveland 62 



PREFACE 

WHILE the teaching of formal oratory would be of doubt- 
ful value to the young pupil, yet the ability to express 
before a group of people a clear-cut idea in definite, persuasive 
language is an accomplishment that can be developed in most 
children. No doubt the percentage of our boys and girls who 
will sway the multitude by their forensic powers will be small, 
but the necessity for sane leaders who can think "on their feet" is 
becoming increasingly great. Among the many methods for dis- 
covering and developing this ability, it is doubtful if any rank 
higher than the appreciative study and declamation of a few 
standard selections. I am indebted to Mr. Henry W. Kind for 
his careful assistance with the typography of this little text. 

F. B. H. 

7 



FOREWORD TO TEACHERS 



SPEAKING is truly a commonplace of life, yet history tells us 
that eloquence is developed and made of service by persistent 
self -training. A few general principles will therefore be discussed, 
with the belief that if only one or two of them be comprehended 
and consciously applied much good will result. It is also hoped 
that the mere presentation of the subject may lead to a more 
definite realization, on the part of the teacher and the pupil, that 
successful speaking is a combination of many factors. 

No attempt has been made to interpret the selections. It is 
firmly believed that this should be done in the class-room, by a 
lesson in appreciation, which will precede the formal declamation. 
The teacher should also make sure that the background of the 
selection is possessed by all the pupils. Most of the selections 
are of such length that they should be divided among a number of 
pupils. It will be found that this tends to increase the interest, 
and at the same time the unity is not destroyed. 

No amount of mechanical training will enable the pupil to 
reproduce the expression which results when the imagination has 
been fully aroused to the meaning of the subject. We usually 
detect, without much trouble, the insincerity of the man who 
trys to convince us by words that he is sorry, but who, in 
truth, does not feel so. Yet, curiously enough, there seem 
to be certain pupils who think and feel correctly on most 



10 FOREWORD TO TEACHERS 

things, but who do not appear to give the proper outward expres- 
sion to their real feelings. To this type of pupil the teacher who 
has in mind the fundamentals of expression may render some aid. 
The teacher, however, who succeeds best is the one who tries first 
to stimulate the imagination of the pupil and the class. For in 
most cases this is all that is necessary. No incentive to self -train- 
ing is greater than the example of the trained teacher. Much of 
lasting truth is found in the old remark, to the effect, that when 
the congregation slumbers, it is time to wake the preacher. 



PRINCIPLES OF DECLAMATION 



f I ^HE art of declamation must secure its guidance from the 
-*- art of speaking, since declamation is merely the repetition 
of that which already has been spoken. A brief review of the more 
important principles of this art, it is hoped, will increase the pleas- 
ure and profit of both the speaker and the audience. No matter 
what form the speaking may take, certain important require- 
ments are necessary for success. What is said must be understood 
by both the speaker and the audience. What is said must be 
said correctly, according to the best standards of pronunciation. 
What is said must be said in such a manner that the audience is 
persuaded into a feeling which will cause it to think or to act as 
the speaker desires. 

The Audience and the Speaker. — In the declamation, that 
which is to be said is to be spoken directly to the audience. The 
ideas are carried by the spoken word. The speaker faces the 
audience, and the audience observes the speaker. Hence, while 
all the principles of good literature must be followed, in addition, 
the personality of the speaker has a great influence upon the result. 
Does the audience understand? Does it agree? Is it interested? 
Is it made weary? Is it more interested in the speaker than in 
the speech? Will it act as the speaker desires? The test of suc- 
cess is not the pleasure which the speaker gets from the sound of 
his own voice, but the result produced upon the audience. 

11 



12 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

It has been noted that the audience observes the speaker. 
This being so, it can readily be understood that any awkward, 
nervous movement, or any particularly ungraceful attitude is apt 
to distract the attention of the audience from what is being said. 
Frequently the nervousness of the speaker takes the form of fail- 
ing to look at the audience, or of failing to speak to it. We have 
probably been bored at some time when forced to listen to a 
speaker who seemed to be unaware that an audience was present, 
or that it was present for the purpose of hearing what was being 
said. 

To overcome faults such as these we must realize that we possess 
them. Then we must make a deliberate attempt to correct them. 
This frequently can only be accomplished by inviting the criticism 
of the audience. A frank discussion of the merits and faults of the 
declamation should take place in the class-room. If the speaker 
receives some definite suggestions concerning the faults to be 
avoided, and some definite help as to how to correct them, then 
the whole class will surely profit. Let us always remember, how- 
ever, that our criticism should be made in a kindly spirit, because 
there is nothing that we dislike more than to be made "fun of" in 
public. 

Much help may also be gained by careful observation of the 
methods of some good speakers. Success is a combination of 
following the good and avoiding the poor. There is, however, only 
one way to learn to swim — get in the water and profit all you can 
by the experience of those who know how. 

The Background. — In order that the speaker may make some 
attempt to give to the selection the power and meaning that it had 
in its original setting, it is desirable that an attempt be made to 
understand the circumstances under which the speech was given 



PRINCIPLES OF DECLAMATION 13 

originally. Suppose, for example, the subject for declamation 
be the "Gettysburg Speech," by Lincoln. The meaning of the 
speech and the power and feelings of the speaker immediately 
have new light shed upon them when we become familiar with the 
historical conditions which form the background. When was the 
speech delivered? What great event happened at Gettysburg? 
Upon what occasion was the speech delivered? Was Lincoln the 
principal speaker? What was the chief cause of the disagreement 
between the North and the South? For what principles of govern- 
ment did Lincoln stand firmly during the war? Did the North 
stand solidly behind him? Was Lincoln a man easily excited? 
What was the effect of the speech upon the people of the North? 
Do you think it would make them more determined to win? 
What did Lincoln think of his own speech? What did the great 
orator who spoke for two hours before Lincoln say about this 
speech? 

Against such a background as this much that is obscure in the 
speech will stand out clearly. New power will be given to its 
declamation. For it is hard to speak when we do not fully under- 
stand. Let us not forget that the attitude and sympathy of the 
audience will, in large measure, depend upon the extent to which 
this background is held in common with the speaker. Hence, 
whenever possible this background should be talked over in the 
class before the actual declamation takes place. 

The Selection. — There are many things of great value which 
we may get for little expense from the study of a masterpiece. 
We may find out how someone who knows has done it. This is 
just as important in speaking as it is in making pies or painting a 
portrait. 

There is one important difference between the masterpiece 



14 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

which is intended to be read and the one which is intended 
to be spoken. If you do not, at first reading, understand what is 
written, you may turn back and read over again. But if you fail 
to catch the meaning from the word of the speaker, you cannot turn 
back. It is a scene that is lost. Hence the speaker tries to select 
for his use clear, definite, concise words. Words, that like the lens 
in the eye, gather the great picture before us, and present us with 
a miniature copy. Yet it is the same great picture. With exactly 
such clearness and conciseness does Lincoln avoid cumbersome 
phrases by the use of such crystal words as dedicate, consecrate, 
hallow. 

Examine also the selection for its obedience to the rules of good 
literature. Test its unity; its emphasis; its coherence. Under- 
stand the meaning of every word. Notice whether the thought is 
expressed without the use of unnecessary words, or whether there is 
a tendency to ramble on after the important thing has been said. 
See if the important ideas are expressed clearly, so that no confusion 
is felt as to the meaning. Think of the selection as a whole. Form 
an opinion as to whether or not all the points that have been men- 
tioned unite so as to exclude everything that does not bear directly 
upon the subject. In the beginning, in order that some of these 
suggestions may be carried out, it is advisable that a short selec- 
tion be used for declamation. 

The Voice. — Like a musical instrument, the voice is made to 
produce sound; and, like a musical instrument, it may be made 
to produce pleasant, agreeable sounds, or ugly, disagreeable sounds. 
In another important respect it is like the musical instrument. 
Both the musical instrument and the voice if they are to produce 
pleasant, agreeable sounds, must be played upon by someone who 
possesses pleasant, agreeable ideas. Many of us are unable fully 






PRINCIPLES OF DECLAMATION 15 

to understand the meaning of a musical selection, but most of us 
can understand the ordinary sounds made by the voice, which we 
call words. It is by hearing these words that the audience is to 
get the meaning of the speaker. Hence the speaker must first 
select the proper word to express the idea. We have already re- 
ferred to this matter under the heading "The Selection." Next 
the speaker must deliver the word to the audience in such a way 
that the idea will be clearly understood. This means that the 
word must be pronounced distinctly and correctly. 

Each word should be heard distinctly by every person in 
the audience. An indistinct word may change the entire mean- 
ing in such a way as to produce the opposite effect from that 
which is desired. Even when the indistinct word does not 
change the meaning, it usually leads to inattention on the part 
of the audience. We have noted before how difficult it is to give 
attention to a speaker when it is almost impossible to hear clearly 
more than a few words here and there. 

In addition to speaking the word clearly, so that no doubt is 
left as to the word meant, it should be spoken correctly according 
to the standard of best usage. Acrost for "across"; umberella 
for "umbrella"; histry for "history"; burgular for "burglar"; are 
for "our"; sentunce for "sentence" ; walkin' for "walking" are a 
few of innumerable examples of incorrect and slovenly pronun- 
ciation which are only too common. This careless pronunciation 
also is found quite frequently in combinations of words. Thus we 
find such sentences as " Wherer you goin'?" " Wherer are books?" 
A little thought given to examples such as these will make quite 
clear the necessity for distinctness and correctness in pronun- 
ciation. Only the deliberate doing of the correct thing, however, 
will be of any help to the speaker. 



16 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

With a little courage, a few friends, and some practice anyone 
can make a list of his most common errors and gradually get rid 
of them. 

Emphasis. — We have pointed out that distinct and correct 
pronunciation are important requirements of all good speech. 
Yet we may have both of these present and still have little 
interest on the part of the audience. A little thought will 
soon show us that all the words in a sentence are not of equal 
importance in expressing ideas. Further consideration will show 
that all ideas are not of the same value. A few of the more 
obvious methods by which the speaker may add emphasis to the 
more important words or ideas will be considered. It must never 
be forgotten, however, that the emphasis which we give to a word 
or to an idea must represent the way that we think and feel upon 
the subject. 

Stress. — If our knock at the door is not heard, we knock a 
little louder. If, in our judgment, the meaning of a word requires 
that it be made more prominent among its companions, we stress it. 
In the line "The ploughman homeward plods his weary way" it 
is not difficult by stressing certain words to cause the hearer to 
think almost entirely of the place to which the ploughman is 
going, or, on the other hand, to think almost entirely of the weary 
man as he trudges along. 

Inflection. — In speaking the sentence "You are his brother," 
used as a plain statement of fact, notice that the words are 
uttered in much the same tone as though they were played by 
the same key of the piano. Now speak the sentence so as to express 
surprise at the relation that he bears to you. Immediately there 
will be noticed, in some part of the sentence, a sliding up or down 
of the tone. This time the sentence could not be played with the 



PRINCIPLES OF DECLAMATION 17 

same key. In response to a different idea we have inflected some 
part of the sentence. 

Pitch. — It will also be noticed that in the second case we have 
shifted the entire tone of the sounds to a different level. We may- 
play the same piece of music on the middle keys of the piano or in a 
variety of other positions. But the reason that causes us to make 
the change is something that is going on in our mind concerning 
the idea. We have changed the pitch because the idea has changed. 
Notice the pitch in which the following lines are spoken: 

"Cheerily, then, my little man, 
Live and laugh as boyhood can!" — Whittier. 

Contrast the light and joyous attitude of mind expressed by these 
lines with the serenity of mind that is expressed in the following 
lines from Grey's Elegy: 

"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day; 
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea; 
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, 
And leaves the world to darkness and to me." 

The Pause. — In order to understand words in any form, whether 
written or spoken, they must be grouped together or phrased so as 
to bring out the meaning. We must know what words belong 
together. This grouping can easily be done in written language 
by the various marks of punctuation, but in speaking it is neces- 
sary to do it in other ways. Probably the most common way in 
speaking is by the use of the pause. 

The pause has two other important uses in speech besides the 
help that it gives to the meaning. It is frequently used to give 
time for consideration of what has just been said, or to focus the 

2 



18 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

attention upon what is about to be said. In this latter respect 
it reminds us somewhat of the familiar "Stop! Look! Listen!" 
sign. 

The Rate of Speed. — Speak the sentence "Bring some water" 
in the tone of voice that you would ordinarily use if the water were 
intended for drinking purposes. Do you think if you wanted the 
water to throw upon the fire that was threatening your home that 
there would be any change in the rate of speed with which you 
uttered the words? It does not take much imagination to think 
yourself in either of the above positions. Why do we say the words 
at a faster rate in one case than in the other? A little thought 
about the matter will show us that the words merely represent 
ideas, and that it is our ideas that have changed their rate of speed. 
The amount of time that the mind has to give to the idea in the two 
examples is no longer the same. The spirit of the piece has changed. 

Along with the change in the speed of utterance it will also be 
noticed that there has been a change in the pitch. For example, 
read the two following selections in the way that you think best 
expresses the thought of the author. Notice the change in rate of 
movement and the corresponding change in pitch : 

"All the little boys and girls, 
With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls, 
And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls, 
Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after 
The wonderful music, with shouting and laughter." — Browning. 

"Break, break, break, 

On thy cold gray stones, O Sea! 
And I would that my tongue could utter 
The thoughts that arise in me." — Tennyson. 



PRINCIPLES OF DECLAMATION i9 

A little thought will lead to the conclusion that as you give 
expression to such feelings as delight, anxiety, terror, reverence 
there is a natural change in the rate of movement, accompanied 
usually by a change in pitch. 

Expression. — The debater desires to convince the audience and 
the judges. The lawyer desires to convince the jury. The teacher 
desires to convince the class. The speaker pleading for money for 
the Red Cross desires to convince the hearers of the necessity for 
help. In each of these instances the speaker desires to convince 
the audience of certain conditions or facts. Is this, however, suf- 
ficient? To be convinced that a certain group of people need help 
is not a very difficult matter. To feel so sorry that you actually 
must help them is sometimes an entirely different affair. We can 
easily see that the audience must not only be convinced of certain 
facts, but such feelings must be aroused that the action desired by 
the speaker will follow. 

The dislike of many people for the mechanical piano-player 
when it was first given to the public was due to the fact that it 
lacked that quality which we call expression. Each note seemed 
to receive exactly the correct amount of time.. The sounds ap- 
peared to be of equal loudness and the rate of speed did not seem 
to vary in a natural manner. Something was lacking. We like 
variety. We want some notes soft, some loud. We want some 
parts to go fast, some to go slowly. We want a pause here, a 
jump there. We want this variety because it has a meaning for us. 
It enables us to get an idea of the way the author feels. We want 
the music to have expression. 

Good cake is the result of a number of things in combination. 
We may think separately of the various ingredients, yet they must 
be combined properly to suit our taste. Good music in the same 



20 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

way is a result of the combination of a number of things. Why- 
do we like to hear a certain selection played by one person, but not 
by another? The reason is that one performer can put together all 
the different things necessary for good playing in just the way that 
suits us. Our favorite performer has a certain feeling about the 
matter that we like. 

Good speaking, like good piano playing, consists of a number 
of things in combination. Like piano playing, much may be 
learned if we do a little at a time, and do that little at frequent 
intervals. The test of expression is the feeling produced in the 
audience. It is a test with which you are perfectly familiar. How 
do you show approval of a good speech ? Do you smile or laugh ; or 
clap your hands; or nod your head in approval? Are you ap- 
plauding because of the mere words that the speaker uses, or be- 
cause he has certain ideas and feelings that cause him to use those 
words? The speaker that we admire is the one whose feelings 
cause him to express his thoughts with all the shades of emphasis 
that we like and understand. He has such feelings about his 
ideas that he utters them with expression. We will probably 
come inevitably to the conclusion that when we fail of success 
in speaking, it is due either to our failure to have clearly 
defined ideas, or our feelings about these ideas are not very 
strong. 

Poetry. — Practically all that has been said thus far applies 
equally to the declamation of poetry. The added difficulty which 
comes to the speaking of this form of literature is due to that pecu- 
liar movement of the words which we call rhythm. The most 
common fault in reciting poetry is the tendency to emphasize the 
swing of the verse with insufficient attention to the meaning. In 
the ordinary stanza of poetry you will notice that the words are so 



PRINCIPLES OF DECLAMATION 21 

arranged that the accents appear to come at regular intervals. 
So regular, in fact, that if you desire you may recite the stanza in 
time as regular as the tick of a clock. 

This sing-song tendency is still further increased because in 
most poetry we find certain lines at regular intervals ending with 
the same sound. This rhyme is so pleasant to the ear that we are 
apt to pause deliberately in order to hear the agreement. We 
know, however, that words must be grouped so as to make sense. 
Therefore we must try to speak the lines so that while the rhythm 
remains, and the beauty of the rhyme is heard, yet the meaning is 
not disturbed. 

We know also that to speak an idea clearly and forcibly 
requires that the words be uttered in such a way as to stress 
only the important ones. By speaking two or three lines of 
ordinary prose in regular time it at once becomes apparent 
that the sense is destroyed, and the result is monotonous and 
displeasing. 

Sometimes we go to the other extreme in speaking poetry, and 
while making the meaning clear, fail altogether to bring out the 
beauty that belongs to the rhythm and to the rhyme. Our object 
must therefore be to make the movement of the verse flow in such 
a way that while the sense is not destroyed, the stanza still ex- 
presses the emotions of the author. 

Summary. — The essential principles of good speaking may be 
briefly stated as the ability to say words clearly and correctly; to 
give them the correct emphasis and to use them so as to express 
properly the ideas for which they stand. This means that the 
audience must hear them; must understand them; and finally must 
be in sympathy with the feelings of the speaker. Little of value 
can be hoped for from the study of rules of elocution, but much 



22 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

progress may be made if we will remember that failure is usually the 
result when we speak words and not ideas, when we imitate feelings 
instead of expressing our own. The voice that imitates sorrow 
never possesses the tone that accompanies the expression of the 
genuine feeling. The laugh that does not express the feeling of 
joy is a sorrowful sound. 






THE RETURN OF REGULUS 



TN one of the many battles of the Romans 
A with the Carthaginians, Regulus, the Roman 
leader, was taken captive. He was held a 
prisoner for several years, and finally was sent to 
Rome on parole, with the hope that he would 
dissuade the Romans from attacking the Cartha- 
ginians. Regulus, however, did just the opposite 
of this. He urged his countrymen to renew the 
war with greater courage. Then, in spite of the 
pleadings of his friends, to break his parole, he 
returned to Carthage to what he knew would be 
certain death. Here in a speech to his captors 
he taunts them with having blood "like slimy 
ooze" instead of the "bright blood" of his brave 
countrymen. His speech as we have it was 
written by Elijah Kellogg, as he imagined Regulus 
to have spoken. 



THE RETURN OF REGULUS 



YE doubtless thought, judging of Roman virtue by 
your own, that I would break my plighted faith, 
rather than by returning, and leaving your sons and 
brothers to rot in Roman dungeons, to meet your 
vengeance. ... If the bright blood which feeds 
my heart were like slimy ooze that stagnates in your 
veins, I should have remained at Rome, saved my life 
and broken my oath. If, then, you ask why I have 
come back, to let you work your will on this poor body 
which I esteem but as the rags that cover it, — enough 
reply for you, it is because I am a Roman ! 

Venerable senators, with trembling voices and out- 
stretched hands, besought me to return no more to 
Carthage. The voice of a beloved mother,— her 
withered hands beating her breast, her gray hairs 
streaming in the wind, tears flowing down her furrowed 
cheeks, — praying me not to leave her in her lonely and 
helpless old age, is still sounding in my ears. Compared 
to anguish like this, the paltry torments you have in 
store is as the murmur of the meadow brook to the wild 
tumult of the mountain storm. 

24 



THE RETURN OF REGULUS 25 

Go! bring your threatened tortures! The woes I 
see impending over this fated city will be enough to 
sweeten death, though every nerve should tingle with 
its agony! I die — but mine shall be the triumph; yours 
the untold desolation. 

Elijah Kellogg (1813-1901). 



ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG 



ON November 19, 1863, thousands of people 
from all parts of the Union gathered at 
Gettysburg for the dedication of the National 
Cemetery. Here lay buried the Northern soldiers 
who had given their lives that the Union might be 
preserved. The formal speaker of the occasion 
was Edward Everett. He was perhaps the most 
finished orator of his day. For two hours he 
spoke to the multitude in his best style. When 
he had finished President Lincoln arose and spoke 
a few words to the waiting thousands. So pro- 
found was the impression of his words that he 
misunderstood the momentary silence that fol- 
lowed his speech to mean that he had failed. 
The next day he wrote of this failure to Mr. 
Everett, who in return wrote and told Lincoln 
that his few words would be remembered long 
after his own were forgotten. We know those few 
words for one of the masterpieces of English 
literature. For simple beauty, in clear, concise 
form, Lincoln's speech has not been excelled. 



26 



ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG 



FOURSCORE and seven years ago our fathers 
brought forth upon this continent a new nation, 
conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition 
that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged 
in a great civil war, testing whether that nation — or any 
nation so conceived and so dedicated — can long endure. 
We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We are 
met to dedicate a portion of that field as the final rest- 
ing-place of those who here gave their lives that that 
nation might live. 

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do 
this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we 
cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The 
brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have 
consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. 
The world will little note, nor long remember, what we 
say here; but it can never forget what they did here. 

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to 
the unfinished work which they have thus far so nobly 
carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to 
the great task remaining before us; that from these 

27 



28 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause 
for which they here gave the last full measure of de- 
votion ; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall 
not have died in vain; that this nation shall, under God, 
have a new birth of freedom; and that government of 
the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish 
from the earth. 

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). 






THE BIRTHDAY OF WASHINGTON 



13 UFUS CHOATE, the author of "The Birth- 
*• ^ day of Washington," was in many ways one 
of the most scholarly of all American public men. 
His knowledge of the English language was almost 
unequalled. In 1841 he was elected to W T ebster's 
seat in the United States Senate, and he, like 
Webster, gave his great ability to the service of 
his country. In his eulogy of Washington he 
brings his great skill to bear upon the perpetu- 
ation of that name which is "First in the hearts 
of his countrymen." The author wants us to 
think of Washington's birthday as something 
more than a mere play day. He urges us as 
Americans to keep fresh in our minds the thanks 
which we owe to the "Father of his country." 



29 



THE BIRTHDAY OF WASHINGTON 



THE birthday of the "Father of his Country"! 
May it ever be freshly remembered by American 
hearts! May it ever reawaken in them a filial venera- 
tion of his memory; ever rekindle the fires of patriotic 
regard to the country which he loved so well; to which 
he gave his youthful vigor and his youthful energy 
during the perilous period of the early Indian warfare; 
to which he devoted his life in the maturity of his 
powers, in the field; to which he again offered the 
counsels of his wisdom and his experience, as president 
of the convention that framed our Constitution; 
which he guided and directed from the chair of State, 
and for which the last prayer of his earthly supplica- 
tion was offered up when it came the moment for him 
so well, and so grandly, and so calmly, to die! He was 
the first man of the time in which he grew. His mem- 
ory is first and most sacred in our love; and ever here- 
after till the last drop of blood shall freeze in the last 
American heart, his name shall be a spell of power 
and of might. 



30 



THE BIRTHDAY OF WASHINGTON 31 

Yes, gentlemen, there is one personal, one vast, 
felicity which no man can share with him. It was the 
daily beauty and towering, matchless glory of his life 
which enabled him to create his country, and, at the 
same time, secure an undying love and regard from 
the whole American people. "The first in the hearts 
of his countrymen!" Yes, first! Undoubtedly there 
were brave and wise and good men before his day, 
in every colony. But the American nation, as a 
nation, I do not reckon to have begun before 1774. 
And the first love of that young America was Wash- 
ington. The first word she lisped was his name. 
Her earliest breath spoke it. It is still her proud 
ejaculation; and it will be the last gasp of her expiring 
life! 

Yes! Others of our great men have been appre- 
ciated — many admired by all. But him we love. Him 
we all love. About and around him we call up no dis- 
sentiment and discordant and dissatisfied elements, no 
sectional prejudice nor bias, no party, no creed, no 
dogma of politics. None of these shall assail him. 
Yes! When the storm of battle blows darkest and 
rages highest, the name of Washington shall nerve 
every American arm, and cheer every American heart. 
It shall relume that Promethean fire, that sublime 
fire of patriotism, that devoted love of country, which 



32 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

his words have commended, which his example has 
consecrated. In the words of Lord Byron: 

"Where may the wearied eye repose 
When gazing on the great, 
Where neither guilty glory glows 
Nor despicable state? 
Yes, — one, the first, the last, the best, 
The Cincinnatus of the West, 
Whom envy dared not hate, 
Bequeathed the name of Washington. 
To make man blush, there was but one." 

Rufus Choate (1799-1859) 



LIBERTY AND UNION 



•f-AANIEL WEBSTER died in 1852 at the age 

-*— * of seventy. His public life covered one of 
the most critical periods in American history. In 
1812 he was elected to Congress, and one of his 
first political acts was a criticism of the embargo. 
In 1825, after some years of private life, during 
which he practised law, he delivered an address at 
the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill 
Monument. This speech, placed him among the 
great orators of the world. From now on he 
found ample opportunity in his public life for the 
use of his oratorical powers in the service of his 
country. Always he stood for the idea of Union. 
He believed in the immense future of America, and 
his orations were one of those powerful influences 
that helped to develop that strong sentiment 
for Union which carried the country through the 
Civil War. 



LIBERTY AND UNION 

Selected 



T PROFESS, sir, in my career hitherto, to have kept 
-^ steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the 
whole country, and the preservation of our Federal 
Union. It is to that Union we owe our safety at home, 
and our consideration and dignity abroad. It is to that 
Union that we are chiefly indebted for whatever makes 
us most proud of our country. 

That Union we reached only by the discipline of our 
virtues in the severe school of adversity. It had its 
origin in the necessities of disordered finance, prostrate 
commerce, and ruined credit. Under its benign influ- 
ences these great interests immediately awoke, as from 
the dead, and sprang forth with newness of life. Every 
year of its duration has teemed with fresh proofs of its 
utility and its blessings; and, although our territory 
has stretched out wider and wider, and our population 
spread farther and farther, they have not outrun its 
protection or its benefits. It has been to us all a co- 
pious fountain of national, social, and personal happi- 
ness. 

34 



LIBERTY AND UNION 35 

I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond the 
Union to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess 
behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of pre- 
serving liberty when the bonds that unite us together 
shall be broken asunder. I have not accustomed my- 
self to hang over the precipice of disunion to see whether 
with my short sight, I can fathom the depth of the abyss 
below; nor could I regard him as a safe counsellor in the 
affairs of this government whose thoughts should be 
mainly bent on considering not how the Union may be 
best preserved, but how tolerable might be the condi- 
tion of the people when it should be broken up and 
destroyed. 

While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, grati- 
fying prospects spread out before us, for us and our 
children. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the veil. 
God grant that in my day, at least, that curtain may 
not rise! God grant that on my vision never may be 
opened what lies behind! When my eyes shall be 
turned to behold, fox the last time, the sun in heaven, 
may I not see him shining on the broken and dishon- 
ored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States dis- 
severed, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with 
civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! 

Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold 
the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now known and 



36 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

honored throughout the earth, still full-high advanced, 
its arms and trophies streaming in their original lustre, 
not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured; 
bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as 
What is all this worth? nor those other words of delusion 
and folly, Liberty first and Union afterwards; but every- 
where, spread all over in characters of living light, 
blazing on all its ample folds as they float over the sea 
and over the land, and in every wind under the whole 
heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true 
American heart — Liberty and Union, now and forever, 
one and inseparable! 

Daniel Webster (1783-1852). 



THE VETERANS OF BUNKER HILL 



^vN June 17, 1825, the corner-stone of the 
^^ monument which marked the Battle of 
Bunker Hill was laid. The oration of the day 
was delivered by Daniel Webster, and by many 
it is considered his masterpiece and the oration 
that placed him with the world's great orators. 
Some forty survivors of the battle, in which Gen- 
eral Warren, "the first great martyr" was killed, 
were present, and among the audience facing 
Webster was the great Lafayette. It is these vet- 
erans whom he addresses as "Venerable Men." 



37 



THE VETERANS OF BUNKER HILL 

Selected 



VENERABLE MEN: You have come down to us 
from a former generation. Heaven has bounte- 
ously lengthened out your lives that you might behold 
this joyous day. You are now where you stood fifty 
years ago this very hour, with your brothers and your 
neighbors, shoulder to shoulder in the strife of your 
country. Behold how altered ! The same heavens are 
indeed over your heads, the same ocean rolls at your feet; 
but all else how changed! You hear now no roar of 
hostile cannon; you see no mixed volumes of smoke and 
flame rising from burning Charles town. The ground 
strewn with the dead and the dying; the impetuous 
charge; the steady and successful repulse; the loud call to 
repeated assault ; the summoning of all that is manly to 
repeated resistance ; a thousand bosoms freely and fear- 
lessly bared in an instant to whatever of terror there 
may be in war and death, — all these you have witnessed, 
but you witness them no more. All is peace. The 
heights of yonder metropolis, its towers and roofs, 



38 



THE VETERANS OF BUNKER HILL 39 

which you then saw filled with wives and children and 
countrymen in distress and terror, and looking with un- 
utterable emotions for the issue of the combat, have 
presented you to-day with the sight of its whole happy 
population come out to welcome and greet you with a 
universal jubilee. Yonder proud ships, by a felicity 
of position appropriately lying at the foot of this mount, 
and seeming fondly to cling around it, are not means 
of annoyance to you, but your country's own means 
of distinction and defence. All is peace, and God has 
granted you this sight of your country's happiness ere 
you slumber in the grave for ever. He has allowed you 
to behold and to partake the reward of your patriotic 
toils, and he has allowed us, your sons and country- 
men, to meet you here, and in the name of the present 
generation, in the name of your country, in the name of 
liberty, to thank you. 

But, alas ! you are not all here. Time and the sword 
have thinned your ranks. Prescott, Putnam, Stark, 
Brooks, Read, Pomeroy, Bridge! our eyes seek for you 
in vain amidst this broken band. You are gathered 
to your fathers, and live only to your country in her 
grateful remembrance and your own bright example. 
But let us not too much grieve that you have met the 
common fate of men. You lived at least long enough 
to know that your work had been nobly and success- 



40 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

fully accomplished. You lived to see your country's 
independence established and to sheathe your swords 
from war. On the light of liberty you saw arise the 
light of peace, like 

"another morn, 
Risen on mid-noon," 
and the sky on which you closed your eyes was cloudless. 
But, ah! him, the first great martyr in this great 
cause; him, the premature victim of his own self-de- 
voting heart; him, the head of our civil councils and the 
destined leader of our military bands; whom nothing 
brought hither but the unquenchable fire of his own 
spirit; him, cut off by Providence in the hour of over- 
whelming anxiety and thick gloom; falling ere he saw 
the star of his country rise; pouring out his generous 
blood like water before he knew whether it would fer- 
tilize a land of freedom or of bondage! How shall I 
struggle with the emotions that stifle the utterance of 
thy name? Our poor w T ork may perish, but thine shall 
endure. This monument may moulder away; the solid 
ground it rests upon may sink down to a level with the 
sea; but thy memory shall not fail. Wheresoever 
among men a heart shall be found that beats to the 
transports of patriotism and liberty, its aspirations 
shall be to claim kindred with thy spirit. 

Daniel Webster (1782-1852). 



SPARTACUS TO THE GLADIATORS 



AT one time in Roman history it was the custom 
-***■ to make slaves of the captives taken in 
battle, and from among the most promising of 
these slaves to select some to be trained as gladi- 
ators. These gladiators fought for the pleasure of 
the public, and so popular did this form of amuse- 
ment become that at one time, men made a business 
of buying slaves and training them for the arena. 
The wealthy nobility gave enormous shows in 
which great numbers of men fought each other to 
death for the amusement of the spectators. It 
was against this cruel treatment that the Thra- 
cian slave, Spartacus, led his fellow-slaves in 
revolt. In a powerful speech he denounced the 
inhuman practice of compelling men to fight each 
other for the pleasure of their masters. Finally 
he persuaded them to rebel, and although the 
revolution itself finally failed, it marked an epoch 
in the struggle of an oppressed people against the 
tyranny of another. The speech was written by 
Elijah Kellogg as he supposed Spartacus might 
have delivered it. 



41 



SPARTACUS TO THE GLADIATORS 



YE call me chief, and ye do well to call him chief 
who, for twelve long years, has met upon the arena 
every shape of man or beast that the broad Empire of 
Rome could furnish, and yet never has lowered his arm. 
And if there be one among you who can say that, ever, 
in public fight or private brawl, my actions did belie 
my tongue, let him step forth and say it. If there be 
three in all your throng dare face me on the bloody sand, 
let them come on! 

Yet, I was not always thus, a hired butcher, a sav- 
age chief of savage men. My father was a reverent 
man, who feared great Jupiter, and brought to the rural 
deities his offerings of fruits and flowers. He dwelt 
among the vineclad rocks and olive groves at the foot 
of Helicon. My early life ran quiet as the brook by 
which I sported. I was taught to prune the vine, to 
tend the flock; and then, at noon, I gathered my sheep 
beneath the shade, and played upon the shepherd's 
flute. I had a friend, the son of our neighbor; we led 
our flocks to the same pasture, and shared together our 
rustic meal. 

42 



SPARTACUS TO THE GLADIATORS 43 

One evening, after the sheep were folded, and we 
were all seated beneath the myrtle that shaded our cot- 
tage, my grandsire, an old man, was telling of Marathon 
and Leuctra, and how, in ancient times, a little band of 
Spartans, in a defile of the mountains, withstood a 
whole army. I did not know then what war meant; 
but my cheeks burned. I knew not why ; and I clasped 
the knees of that venerable man, till my mother, parting 
the hair from off my brow, kissed my throbbing temples, 
and bade me go to rest, and think no more of those old 
tales and savage wars. 

That very night the Romans landed on our shore, 
and the clash of steel was heard within our quiet vale. 
I saw the breast that had nourished me trampled by the 
iron hoof of the warhorse; the bleeding body of my 
father flung amid the blazing rafters of our dwelling. 
To-day I killed a man in the arena, and when I broke 
his helmet clasps, behold ! he was my friend ! He knew 
me, — smiled faintly, — gasped, — and died; the same 
sweet smile that I had marked upon his face when, in 
adventurous boyhood, we scaled some lofty cliff to 
pluck the first ripe grapes, and bear them home in 
childish triumph. I told the prsetor he was my friend, 
noble and brave, and I begged his body, that I might 
burn it upon the funeral-pile, and mourn over him. 
Ay, on my knees, amid the dust and blood of the arena, 



44 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

I begged that boon, while all the Roman maids and 
matrons, and those holy virgins they call vestal, and 
the rabble, shouted in mockery, deeming it rare sport, 
forsooth, to see Rome's fiercest gladiator turn pale, and 
tremble like a very child, before that piece of bleeding 
clay; but the prsetor drew back as if I were pollution, 
and sternly said, 'Let the carrion rot! There are no 
noble men but Romans !' And he, deprived of funeral 
rites, must wander, a hapless ghost, beside the waters 
of that sluggish river, and look — and look — and look 
in vain to the bright Elysian Fields where dwell his 
ancestors and noble kindred. And so must you, and 
so must I, die like dogs ! 

"O Rome! Rome! thou hast been a tender nurse to 
me! Ay, thou hast given to that poor, gentle, timid 
shepherd-lad, who never knew a harsher sound than a 
flute-note, muscles of iron and a heart of flint; taught 
him to drive the sword through rugged brass and 
plaited mail, and warm it in the marrow of his foe! 
to gaze into the glaring eyeballs of the fierce Numidian 
lion, even as a smooth-cheeked boy upon a laughing 
girl. And he shall pay thee back till thy yellow Tiber 
is red as frothing wine, and in its deepest ooze thy life- 
blood lies curdled! 

"Ye stand here now like giants, as ye are ! the strength 
of brass is in your toughened sinews; but to-morrow 



SPARTACUS TO THE GLADIATORS 45 

some Roman Adonis, breathing sweet odors from his 
curly locks, shall come, and with his lily fingers pat 
your brawny shoulders, and bet his sesterces upon your 
blood! Hark! Hear ye yon lion roaring in his den? 
"Tis three days since he tasted meat; but to-morrow he 
shall break his fast upon your flesh; and ye shall be a 
dainty meal for him. 

"If ye are brutes, then stand here like fat oxen wait- 
ing for the butcher's knife; if ye are men, follow me! 
strike down yon sentinel, and gain the mountain passes, 
and there do bloody work as did your sires at old 
Thermopylae! Is Sparta dead? Is the old Grecian 
spirit frozen in your veins, that you do crouch and cower 
like base-born slaves beneath your master's lash? O 
comrades! warriors! Thracians! if we must fight, let us 
fight for ourselves; if we must slaughter, let us slaughter 
our oppressors; if we must die, let us die under the open 
sky, by the bright waters, in noble, honorable battle." 

Elijah Kellogg (1813-1901). 



ANTONY'S SPEECH OVER CvESAR'S 
BODY 



1\ TARK ANTONY was a famous Roman gen- 
■L*-*- eral and politician. His oration, as we have 
it, is in the best style of that master of the Eng- 
lish language, William Shakespeare. Antony in a 
speech of great power seizes upon the assassina- 
tion of his protector, Julius Caesar, as an oppor- 
tunity to rout his enemies and lift himself into 
power. 

His success, however, was short lived, for he 
in turn succumbs to the ambition to be a dictator. 
The people finally force him to flee from Rome, 
and after many attempts to regain his old author- 
ity he is said to have "fallen upon his sword." 



4G 



ANTONY'S SPEECH OVER CvESAR'S BODY 



FRIENDS, Romans, countrymen! lend me your ears; 
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 
The evil that men do lives after them; 
The good is oft interred with their bones; 
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus 
Hath told you, Caesar was ambitious; 
If it were so, it was a grievous fault, 
And grievously hath Caesar answered it. 
Here, under leave of Brutus, and the rest, — 
For Brutus is an honorable man, 
So are they all, all honorable men, — 
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. 

He was my friend, faithful and just to me: 
But Brutus says he was ambitious, 
And Brutus is an honorable man. 
He hath brought many captives home to Rome, 
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: 
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? 
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; 
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: 

47 



48 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, 

And Brutus is an honorable man. 

You all did see, that, on the Lupercal, 

I -thrice presented him a kingly crown, 

Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? 

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, 

And, sure, he is an honorable man. 

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, 

But here I am to speak what I do know. 

You all did love him once, not without cause: 

What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? 

O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, 

And men have lost their reason! — Bear with me; 

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, 

And I must pause till it come back to me. 

But yesterday the word of Caesar might 
Have stood against the world; now lies he there, 
And none so poor to do him reverence. 

masters ! if I were disposed to stir 

Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, 

1 should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, 
Who, you all know, are honorable men. 

I will not do them wrong; I rather choose 
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you, 
Than I will wrong such honorable men. 



ANTONYS SPEECH OVER CLESAR'S BODY 49 

But here's a parchment, with the seal of Caesar; 

I found it in his closet; 'tis his will. 

Let but the commons hear this testament, — 

Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read, — 

And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds, 

And dip their napkins in his sacred blood; 

Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, 

And, dying, mention it within their wills, 

Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy, 

Unto their issue. 

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. 
You all do know this mantle; I remember 
The first time ever Caesar put it on; 
'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent; 
That day he overcame the Nervii. — 
Look! In this place ran Cassius' dagger through; 
See what a rent the envious Casca made; 
Through this, the well-beloved Brutus stabbed, 
And, as he plucked his cursed steel away, 
Mark how the blood of Caesar followed it, 
As rushing out of doors, to be resolved 
If Brutus so unkindly knocked, or no; 
For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel; 
Judge, O ye gods, how dearly Caesar loved him! 
This was the most unkindest cut of all; 



50 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

For when the noble Csesar saw him stab, 

Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms, 

Quite vanquished him. Then burst his mighty heart; 

And, in his mantle muffling up his face, 

Even at the base of Pompey's statue, 

Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell. 

Oh, what a fall was there, my countrymen! 

Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, 

Whilst bloody treason flourished over us. 

Oh, now you weep; and I perceive you feel 

The dint of pity; — these are gracious drops. 

Kind souls! What, weep you when you but behold 

Our Caesar's vesture wounded? Look ye here, 

Here is himself, marred, as you see, by traitors. 

Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up 
To such a sudden flood of mutiny. 
They that have done this deed are honorable: 
What private griefs they have, alas ! I know not, 
That made them do it. They are wise and honorable, 
And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you. 
I am no orator, as Brutus is; 
But as you know me all, a plain, blunt man, 
That loved my friend; and that they know full well 
That gave me public leave to speak of him. 
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, 



ANTONY'S SPEECH OVER CESAR'S BODY 51 

Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, 

To stir men's blood; — I only speak right on; 

I tell you that which you yourselves do know; 

Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor, poor dumb 

mouths, 
And bid them speak for me. But were I Brutus, 
And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony 
Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue 
In every wound of Caesar, that should move 
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny! 

William Shakespeare (1564-1616). 



RIENZFS ADDRESS TO THE ROMANS 



TN 1347 the tyranny of the Roman aristocracy 
was such that it finally led to a revolution of 
the people. For some years Rienzi, whose brother 
had been wantonly slain by one of the nobles, had 
openly opposed them in their tyrannical conduct, 
but without success. Finally he came to the con- 
clusion that a revolution was the only method by 
which redress might be secured. In a powerful 
speech he urged the overthrow of the aristoc- 
racy and proposed many reforms and new laws 
for the government of the people. This speech 
as we have it is taken from the play of Rienzi, 
written, in blank verse, by an English woman, 
Mary Russell Mitford. 



RIENZI'S ADDRESS TO THE ROMANS 



I COME here not to talk. You know too well 
The story of our thraldom. We are slaves! 
The bright sun rises to his course, and lights 
A race of slaves ! he sets, and his last beam 
Falls on a slave ! — not such as, swept along 
By the full tide of power, the conqueror leads 
To crimson glory and undying fame, 
But base, ignoble slaves — slaves to a horde 
Of petty tyrants; feudal despots; lords, 
Rich in some dozen paltry villages, 
Strong in some hundred spearmen; only great 
In that strange spell — a name. 

Each hour dark fraud, 
Or open rapine, or protected murder, 
Cries out against them. But this very day, 
An honest man, my neighbor (there he stands), 
Was struck — struck like a dog, by one who wore 
The badge of Ursini, because, forsooth, 
He tossed not high his ready cap in air 

53 



54 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

Nor lifted up his voice in servile shouts 
At sight of that great ruffian! Be we men, 
And suffer such dishonor? — men, and wash not 
The stain away in blood? 

Such shames are common. 
I have known deeper wrongs. I that speak to you, 
I had a brother once (a gracious boy), 
Full of gentleness, of calmest hope, 
Of sweet and quiet joy: there was the look 
Of heaven upon his face, which limners give 
To the beloved disciple. How I loved 
That gracious boy ! Younger by fifteen years, 
Brother at once and son! He left my side, 
A summer bloom on his fair cheek, a smile 
Parting his innocent lips: in one short hour, 
That pretty, harmless boy was slain ! I saw 
The corse, the mangled corse, and then I cried 
For vengeance! 

Rouse ye, Romans ! rouse ye, slaves ! 
Have ye brave sons? Look, in the next fierce brawl, 
To see them die. Have ye fair daughters? Look 
To see them live, torn from your arms, distained, 
Dishonored; and, if ye dare call for justice, 
Be answered by the lash. 



RIENZI'S ADDRESS TO THE ROMANS 55 

Yet this is Rome, 
That sat on her seven hills, and, from her throne 
Of beauty, ruled the world! Yet we are Romans! 
Why, in that elder day, to be a Roman 
Was greater than a king! And, once again, 
(Hear me, ye walls, that echoed to the tread 
Of either Brutus !) once again, I swear, 
The Eternal City shall be free! 

Mary Russell Mitford (1786-1855). 



THE MEN TO MAKE A STATE 



fTTHE "Men to Make a State" was delivered in 
-*■ 1849 by George Washington Doane at a 
Fourth of July celebration at Burlington College. 
It was dedicated to "Major-General Winfield Scott, 
General-in-chief, a model of the men to make a 
state." A brief review of the life of General Scott 
will show that his career was one of long and faith- 
ful service to his country. This was the type 
of man that the author has in mind when he de- 
scribes the many qualities that the good citizen 
must possess. These are the qualities that he 
urges us as good citizens to take for our standards. 






56 



THE MEN TO MAKE A STATE 



THE men to make a state must be intelligent men. I 
do not mean that they must know that two and two 
make four; or, that six per cent, a year is half per cent, 
a month. I take a wider and a higher range. I limit 
myself to no mere utilitarian intelligence. This has 
its place. And this will come almost unsought. The 
contact of the rough and rugged world will force men 
to it in self-defence. The lust of worldly gain will drag 
men to it for self-aggrandizement. But men so made 
will never make a state. The intelligence which that 
demands, will take a wider and a higher range. Its 
study will be man. It will make history its chief ex- 
perience. It will read hearts. It will know men. It 
will first know itself. What else can govern men? 
Who else can know the men to govern men? The 
right of suffrage is a fearful thing. It calls for wisdom, 
and discretion, and intelligence, of no ordinary standard. 
It takes in, at every exercise, the interests of all the 
nation. Its results reach forward through time into 
eternity. Its discharge must be accounted for among 

57 



58 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

the dread responsibilities of the great day of judg- 
ment. Who will go to it blindly? Who will go to it 
passionately? Who will go to it, as a sycophant, a 
tool, a slave? How many do! These are not the men 
to make a state. 

The men to make a state must be honest men. I 
do not mean men that would never steal. I do not 
mean men that would scorn to cheat in making change. 
I mean men with a single face. I mean men with a 
single eye. I mean men with a single tongue. I mean 
men that consider always what is right; and do it at 
whatever cost. I mean men who can dine, like Andrew 
Marvel, on a neck of mutton; and whom, therefore, no 
king on earth can buy. Men that are in the market for 
the highest bidder; men that make politics their trade, 
and look to office for a living; men that will crawl where 
they cannot climb; — these are not the men to make a 
state. 

The men to make a state must be brave men. I do 
not mean the men that pick a quarrel. I do not mean 
the men that carry dirks. I do not mean the men that 
call themselves hard names — as Bouncers, Killers, and 
the like. I mean the men that walk with open face and 
unprotected breast. I mean the men that do, but do 
not talk. I mean the men that dare to stand alone. 
I mean the men that are to-day where they were yes- 



THE MEN TO MAKE A STATE 59 

terday, and will be there to-morrow. I mean the men 
that can stand still and take the storm. I mean the 
men that are afraid to kill, but not afraid to die. The 
man that calls hard names, and uses threats; the man 
that stabs, in secret, with his tongue, or with his pen; 
the man that moves a mob to deeds of violence and self- 
destruction; the man that freely offers his last drop of 
blood, but never sheds the first; — these are not the men 
to make a state. 

The men to make a state must be religious men. 
States are from God. States are dependent upon God. 
States are accountable to God. To leave God out of 
states, is to be atheists. I do not mean that men must 
cant. I do not mean that men must wear long faces. 
I do not mean that men must talk of conscience, while 
they take your spoons. One has shrewdly called hy- 
pocrisy the tribute which vice pays to virtue. These 
masks and vizors, in like manner, are the forced con- 
cession which a moral nature makes to him whom, at 
the same time, it dishonors. I speak of men who feel 
and own a God. I speak of men who feel and own their 
sins. I speak of men who think the cross no shame. I 
speak of men who have it in their hearts as well as on 
their brows. The men that own no future, the men 
that trample on the Bible, the men that never pray, are 
not the men to make a state. 



60 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOB DECLAMATIONS 

The men to make a state are made by faith. A man 

that lias no faith, is so much flesh. His heart, a muscle; 
nothing more. He has no past, for reverence ; no future, 
for reliance. He lives, so does a clam. Both die. 
Such men can never make a state. There must be 
faith, which furnishes the fulcrum Archimedes could 
not find, for the long lever that should move the world. 
There must be faith to look through clouds and storms 
up to the sun that shines as cheerily on high as on crea- 
tion's morn. There must be faith that can lay hold on 
heaven,, and let the earth swing from beneath it, if God 
will. There must be faith that can afford to sink the 
present in the future: and let time go. in its strong grasp 
upon eternity. This is the way that men are made, to 
make a state. 

The men to make a state are made by self-denial. 
The willow dallies with the water, and is fanned forever 
by its coolest breezes, and draws its waves up in con- 
tinual pulses of refreshment and delight ; and is a willow; 
after all. An acorn has been loosened, some autumnal 
morning, by a squirrel's foot. It finds a nest in some 
rude cleft of an old granite rock, where there is scarcely 
earth to cover it. It knows no shelter, and it feels no 
shade. It squares itself against the storms. It shoul- 
ders through the blast. It asks no favor, and gives 
none. It grapples with the rock. It crowds up toward 






THE MEN TO MAKE A STATE 61 

the sun. It is an oak. It has been seventy years an 
oak. It will be an oak for seven times seventy years, 
unless you need a man-of-war to thunder at the foe that 
shows a flag upon the shore, where freemen dwell; and 
then you take no willow in its daintiness and graceful- 
ness; but that old, hardy, storm-stayed and storm- 
strengthened oak. So are the men made that will make 
a state. 

The men to make a state are themselves made by 
obedience. Obedience is the health of human hearts; 
obedience to God; obedience to father and to mother, 
who are, to children, in the place of God; obedience to 
teachers and to masters, who are in the place of father 
and of mother; obedience to spiritual pastors, who are 
God's ministers; and to the powers that be, which are 
ordained of God. Obedience is but self-government in 
action; and he can never govern men who does not gov- 
ern first himself. Only such men can make a state. 

George W. Doane (1799-1859). 



ONE HUNDRED YEARS A NATION 



ri 1HE celebration of the Constitution Centennial 
*■ was held in Philadelphia in September, 1887. 
It was attended with brilliant and imposing cere- 
monies. A commission representing each state 
and territory conducted the enterprise. On the 
first day the progress of the arts and sciences was 
reviewed in a grand industrial parade in which 
over twelve thousand men participated. On the 
second day a military parade, to the number of 
more than thirty thousand Federal and State 
troops, passed in review before President Cleve- 
land. On the third and last day occurred the 
literary exercises commemorative of the framing 
of the Constitution. This was the actual me- 
morial day, being the same month and day on 
which the members of the convention of 1787 
completed and signed their work and sent it to 
the colonies for ratification. It was on this oc- 
casion that President Cleveland delivered his 
beautiful word-picture of American spirit which 
we know as "One Hundred Years a Nation.' * 



ONE HUNDRED YEARS A NATION 



I DEEM it a very great honor and pleasure to partic- 
ipate in these impressive exercises. 

Every American citizen should on this centennial 
day rejoice in his citizenship. 

He will not find the cause of his rejoicing in the an- 
tiquity of his country, for among the nations of the 
earth his stands with the youngest. He will not find it 
in the glitter and the pomp that bedeck a monarch and 
dazzle abject and servile subjects, for in his country 
the people themselves are rulers. He will not find it in 
the story of bloody foreign conquests, for his govern- 
ment has been content to care for its own domain and 
people. 

He should rejoice because the work of framing our 
Constitution was completed one hundred years ago 
to-day, and also because, when completed, it established 
a free government. He should rejoice because this 
Constitution and government have survived so long, 
and also because they have survived so many blessings 
and have demonstrated so fully the strength and value 



63 



64 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

of popular rule. He should rejoice in the wondrous 
growth and achievements of the past one hundred years, 
and also in the glorious promise of the Constitution 
through centuries to come. 

We shall fail to be duly thankful for all that was done 
for us one hundred years ago, unless we realize the diffi- 
culties of the work then in hand, and the dangers 
avoided in the task of forming "a more perfect union" 
between disjointed and inharmonious States, with in- 
terests and opinions radically diverse and stubbornly 

maintained. 

* * ^ * 

In the face of all discouragements, the fathers of 
the republic labored on for four long, weary months, in 
alternate hope and fear, but always with rugged resolve, 
never faltering in a sturdy endeavor sanctified by a 
prophetic sense of the value to posterity of their suc- 
cess, and always with unflinching faith in the principles 
which make the foundation of a government by the 
people. 

At last their task was done. It is related that upon 
the back of the chair occupied by Washington as the 
president of the Convention a sun was painted, and that 
as the delegates were signing the completed Constitu- 
tion one of them said: "I have often and often, in the 
course of the session, and in the solicitude of my hopes 



ONE HUNDRED YEARS A NATION 65 

and fears as to its issue, looked at that sun behind the 
president without being able to tell whether it was ris- 
ing or setting. But now at length I know that it is a 
rising and not a setting sun." 

We stand to-day on the spot where this rising sun 
emerged from political night and darkness; and in its 
own bright meridian light we mark its glorious way. 
Clouds have sometimes obscured its rays, and dreadful 
storms have made us fear; but God has held it in its 
course, and through its life-giving warmth has per- 
formed his latest miracle in the creation of this wondrous 
land and people. 

As we look down the past century to the origin of our 
Constitution, as we contemplate its trials and its tri- 
umphs, as we realize how completely the principles 
upon which it is based have met every national peril 
and every national need, how devoutly should we con- 
fess, with Franklin, "God governs in the affairs of men"; 
and how solemn should be the reflection that to our 
hands is committed this ark of the people's covenant, 
and that ours is the duty to shield it from impious hands. 
We receive it sealed with the tests of a century. It has 
been found sufficient in the past; and in all the future 
years it will be found sufficient, if the American people 
are true to their sacred trust. 

Another centennial day will come, and millions yet 



66 STANDARD SELECTIONS FOR DECLAMATIONS 

unborn will inquire concerning our stewardship and the 
safety of their Constitution. God grant that they may 
find it unimpaired; and as we rejoice in the patriot- 
ism and devotion of those who lived a hundred years 
ago, so may others who follow us rejoice in our fidelity 
and in our jealous love for constitutional liberty. 

Grover Cleveland (1837-1908). 



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